Cloud Cover

Barron’s released its list of the 30 best leaders in business, 2018 edition, this week. A main theme covered by the business magazine is that these CEOs have navigated the emergence of ‘cloud’ technology effectively.

While this mostly applies to tech companies, it also included companies relevant to the working class. General Motors, Applied Materials, General Dynamics, and FedEx all saw their CEOs appear on the list.

As many know, cloud technology is emerging in the worlds of motor shops, repair facilities, and plants. Below, one example is described by Spring Point Solutions’ Troy Locke, whose company’s QM Wizard motor management software is a paradigm for this emerging technology:

Taking a look at some examples from these industries shows the usefulness of becoming cloud savvy on all levels. A different list, The Smart Industry 5.0, honored those at the forefront of the so-called digital revolution. Companies whose products are either utilized or repaired in shops, like Honeywell, General Electric, Siemens, and ABB are spearheading the drive to adopt and integrate technology borne from the Industrial Internet of Things.

“Certainly, there’s a generous dose of marketing hype around the potential of the Industrial Internet of Things, cloud computing and big data analytics to advance industrial performance and remake business models. But speak to those on the front lines of digital innovation and their stories make clear that industry is indeed in the midst of an accelerating transformation made possible by increasingly powerful and accessible digital technology.”

The IoT is also having a profound effect on motor design. Industrial applications require increasingly “space-efficient” motors as they compensate for newer environments like robotic handing and assembly systems. Much of the technology that has enabled this new generation of motors—such as incorporating the motor itself into the body of the product, instead of attaching it to an external movement point—had been previously used in various scientific and mil/aero applications, but these core technologies have now come down in cost and are being incorporated in a wide range of industrial solutions.